Wicked (Musical)
Wicked: The Untold Story Of The Witches Of Oz is a musical show with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is told from the perspective of the witches of the land of Oz, tells the story of what happened in Oz before Dorothy Gale dropped in, and focuses on the heartwarming story of friendship between the green-skinned wicked witch of the west and Glinda the good witch. Its plot begins before and continues after Dorothy's arrival in Oz from Kansas. The musical is based on the novel "Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West" by Gregory Maguire. Plot The Ozians are cheering at the news that the wicked witch of the west, Elphaba, is dead. Glinda arrives and an Ozian asks her if she and Elphaba were friends. She reluctantly admits that they were, leading Glinda to tell them the story of how they became best friends. A flashback starts with a scene at school, Shiz University, where Elphaba arrives. Elphaba was the daughter of the governor of Munchkinland - but it is heavily implied that she is the product of an affair between the governor's wife and a mysterious stranger and his bottle of "green elixir", which as a result Elphaba was born with green skin. Her father resented her and showered his affection on her younger sister, Nessarose, who is physically disabled and uses a wheelchair. The two sisters both go to Shiz University, where the beautiful and popular Galinda is also in their class. As their father says goodbye, he gives Nessarose a pair of silver slippers. The headmistress, Madame Morrible, decides to take Nessarose under her protection, leaving Elphaba and Galinda as roommates to their chagrin. Elphaba attempts to take back her sister, and her anger manifests physically in an explosion. Madame Morrible recognizes that she has special powers and decides to teach her sorcery. She tells Elphaba that her powers might allow her to work with the wonderful wizard of Oz, something Elphaba has dreamed of. All of this does little to endear Elphaba to Galinda and the feeling is mutual. They fight constantly, even in their classes, such as their history class with Dr. Dillamond. Dr. Dillamond is the only animal professor at the university and is beginning to suffer from discrimination, even from the students. He tells Elphaba that there is a conspiracy to stop the animals from speaking, and she wants to let the wizard know, for he would surely stop it. Meanwhile, a young rebellious prince, Fiyero, has arrived at Shiz and shares his life philosophy. They all decide to have a party that evening. Boq, a munchkin who has developed a crush on Galinda, tries to invite her to the party, but she convinces him instead to ask Nessarose out of pity, leaving her free to go with Fiyero. Nessarose is delighted and tells her sister how Galinda helped it happen. When Galinda gifts an ugly hat to Elphaba to wear at the party, Elphaba takes it as an act of kindness. At the party that evening, Boq tries to tell Nessarose the real reason he invited her, but is too nice to hurt her feelings. She continues to fall for him. Madame Morrible arrives to tell Galinda that she can join her sorcery class, at Elphaba's obliging request. Elphaba herself arrives, wearing the witch's hat, only to find the other students laughing and staring while she awkwardly dances alone. Galinda feels regretful, and goes to dance with Elphaba. Soon everyone joins them, and the two girls look at each other in a new light. Back in their room, they continue to bond. Galinda tells Elphaba of her plans to marry Fiyero, and Elphaba confesses that her father blames her for the death of her mother, who died birthing Nessarose. Galinda decides that she will help Elphaba become popular. When Elphaba arrives at class the next day, Fiyero sees Galinda's influence, and tells Elphaba that she doesn't need to change. Dr. Dillamond enters to tell the class that he has been excommunicated. Elphaba wants to help, but no one will stand up with her. Afterwards, the students are introduced to the cage, which will keep animals controlled, so that they never learn to speak. Elphaba's fury cannot be contained, and in the ensuing chaos, she and Fiyero steal the lion cub in the cage and escape. Fiyero is disillusioned about what he has just seen and what he is doing, but he is taken by Elphaba's passion. She begins to fall in love with him and they share a tender moment before he leaves to free the lion cub. Elphaba reminds herself that it's pointless to wish for something to happen between them. Madame Morrible comes and tells her that the wizard has decided to meet her. Nessarose and Galinda come to see her off, and Fiyero meets her too. Galinda tries to win his respect by changing her name to "Glinda", in solidarity with Dr. Dillamond, who always mispronounced her name. But Fiyero isn't impressed, saying goodbye to Elphaba instead. It is hinted that their feelings are finally mutual. Elphaba invites Glinda to the emerald city with her. At last, the two girls stand in front of the wizard. He turns out to be not quite as intimidating as they thought. He promises Elphaba that he will grant her request if she proves herself. Madame Morrible appears; she is the wizard's new "press secretary". She gives Elphaba an ancient book of spells, called the "grimmerie," which only the magically gifted can read. Elphaba is asked to try a levitation spell on the wizard's monkey servant, Chistery. However, the spell doesn't go the way Elphaba plans when Chistery sprouts wings, and she realizes that the wizard is the one behind the suppression of the animals. Elphaba has been tricked, and instead of just performing the spell on one monkey, she actually performed the spell on all of them. Elphaba realizes that the wizard is not who she thought he was - he has no powers; he is merely a fraud who cannot read the grimmerie. He offers her and Glinda everything they've ever wanted if they will help him, but Elphaba is unwilling to comply. She runs away, and in order to prevent the truth from getting out, Madame Morrible spreads reports that Elphaba is "wicked," not to be trusted, and claims that Elphaba is the one behind the animal mischief. This only reaffirms Elphaba's belief that she must not let anyone hold her down. She performs a spell on a broom and flies. Some time later, Elphaba's opposition of the wizard's regime has earned her the title "the wicked witch of the west". Glinda has become the positive public front of the wizard's regime, given the title "Glinda the good" and positioned by Morrible as the nation's defender against the witch. A press conference to celebrate Fiyero's appointment as captain of the guard, a position he has accepted in order to find Elphaba, is hijacked by the crowd's panicked rumors about the witch, including a story that she will be melted by water. Fiyero is incredulous and not convinced by Glinda's insistence that Elphaba does not want to be found. He is further angered when Morrible announces his engagement to Glinda and runs off. Glinda attempts to keep a cheerful front for the press, but it is clear she realizes her dream life has come at a great price. Elphaba pays a visit to Nessarose, who is now the governor of Munchkinland following the death of their father, who Nessarose says "died of shame" when he heard what Elphaba did. Nessarose has taken away the rights of the munchkins in a desperate attempt to keep Boq at her side. Elphaba tries to convince her sister to side with her against the wizard, but Nessarose is more concerned with her own problems. Elphaba tries to help by giving Nessarose the power to walk by turning the silver slippers into the "ruby slippers". Convinced that Boq must love her now, Nessarose calls for him, but he only sees this as proof that she doesn't need him any more. Hurt, Nessarose takes Elphaba's spell book and tries to cast a spell to make Boq fall in love with her. However, the spell backfires, making her the "wicked witch of the east", shrinking Boq's heart. Elphaba must work another spell to save his life, if in a slightly different condition than he was before. When Boq awakens, he is disgusted at his new state as a man made of tin, and Nessarose tells him it was Elphaba who did this to him. Elphaba returns to the wizard's palace to free the monkey servants and comes across the wizard himself. He tries once again to convince her to work with him, telling her that he is not evil - just an average man who came into his position by chance, led to stay by the reverence of the Ozians, and he offers to redeem Elphaba's reputation. She is almost won over, until she sees Dr. Dillamond, who has lost the power of speech. Fiyero and the guards enter, followed by Glinda. Fiyero helps Elphaba escape, and decides to leave with her. Though she was broken-hearted, Glinda reminds the wizard and Madame Morrible that the way to recapture Elphaba is to make her think her sister is in trouble, and she will come to her rescue. She mourns that Fiyero does not love her. Elphaba and Fiyero are both taken by surprise by the strength of their feelings for each other, and promise to be together always. Their happiness is interrupted when Elphaba suddenly has a vision of a house flying through the sky and Nessarose being in danger. Before Elphaba leaves to investigate, Fiyero tells her about a castle that his family owns that she can stay in. Glinda and Elphaba meet again at the site where Nessarose has been crushed by a house with a girl named Dorothy Gale inside. Fueled by the rivalry over Fiyero, the two have a heated argument. The guards arrive, and Elphaba guesses that Glinda arranged for all of this. Fiyero arrives as well, and holds Glinda hostage until Elphaba can escape. Glinda pleads for the guards not to harm him, but they don't listen as they escort Fiyero to the field where they can interrogate and torture him into revealing Elphaba's whereabouts. Elphaba tries to cast a spell to protect him, but is crest-fallen by the limitations of her power. She decides that from this point on, she will live up to her reputation as the wicked witch of the west. Meanwhile, the citizens of Oz, spurred on by Madame Morrible and Boq's testimony, prepare for a witch hunt to help rescue Dorothy from the clutches of the wicked witch. Glinda has realized Morrible, who can control the weather, is responsible for Nessarose's death, but when she confronts her, Morrible tells her that there is blood on her hands as well. Glinda flees in horror to warn Elphaba as the angry mob sets out to Kiamo Ko to kill her. Back at Kiamo Ko, Elphaba has already captured Dorothy, refusing to release her until she relinquishes Nessarose's slippers – the only things left of her dead sister. Glinda travels to Elphaba's castle to warn her of the danger and persuade her to let Dorothy go. Elphaba refuses until she receives a letter saying that Fiyero has died. The two women forgive each other, acknowledging they have both made mistakes. To help her in her future, Elphaba gives the grimmerie to Glinda. The two friends embrace for the last time before saying goodbye. As the mob arrives, Elphaba tells Glinda to hide, and she watches helplessly from the shadows as Dorothy throws a bucket of water on Elphaba, who appears to disintegrate. Shaken, Glinda sees that all that remains of her friend is her black hat and the small bottle of green elixir. In the emerald city, Glinda confronts the wizard with Elphaba's bottle, which he recognizes as identical to his own. He was Elphaba's biological father, and the cause of her green skin. He breaks down in sorrow, and Madame Morrible surmises that Elphaba's powers were so strong because she was a child of two worlds. Glinda banishes the wizard from Oz and sends Madame Morrible to prison for murder. Meanwhile, back at the castle, Fiyero, now a scarecrow, comes to the spot where Elphaba was melted. Making sure that no one is watching, he knocks on the floor and out from a trap door steps Elphaba, very much alive; the entire thing was a ruse to convince her enemies of her death and to ensure her future with Fiyero, who was transformed into the scarecrow by her spell. Before leaving, Elphaba regrets that she'll never see Glinda again and tell her that they are alive. Simultaneously, returning to the musical's starting point, Glinda promises the people of Oz to properly earn her title as Glinda the good. As the people celebrate and Glinda mourns, Elphaba and Fiyero leave Oz together forever. Trivia Wicked was inspired by Margaret Hamilton's comment in an interview about how she approached playing the role of the wicked witch of the west, because she said that she always felt like the witch was misunderstood and had probably had bad experiences earlier in her life which had led to her being the way she was. The original book is a very dark novel, which is one of those Oz stories that's not written for children, since it contains adult language, violent imagery, and sexual situations. The musical is very different from the novel because it follows a lighter adaptation of the basic storyline that is appropriate for most audiences, has no profanity because the language is clean and playful, no overt sexual display since the love song is tame, and there's a few brief scuffles that are tame and not realistic violence because they are in the spirit of the Oz fantasy world. In both the book and musical, several characters from the traditional Oz stories are present with different names: Glinda is originally called Galinda, but changes her name. The wicked witch of the west is called Elphaba, the wicked witch of the east is called Nessarose, Boq becomes the tin man, and Fiyero becomes the scarecrow. Dorothy does appear during a pivotal scene toward the end of the of both the novel and the musical, but her face is never seen in either version. Only her backside is shown in the novel, while in the musical, she appears as a silhouette.Category:Stage shows Category:The Wizard Of Oz